Magi: A New World Of Magic
by KaidaStormess
Summary: Aria and Justice were best friends since, like, birth. They were in gymnastics, track, and self defense classes together. Aria was the dreamer who believed magic and destiny while Justice focused on logic and history. During a camping trip, the two come across a strange blue haired guy. He speaks of a magical world in need of saving from the dark. This is where the adventure starts
1. Chapter 1: Aria And Justice

"Oh! Look at this spell book!" Aria called out to BFF as she walked through the old book store.

"Look at this book on battle strategy." Justice countered.

"Why so you read that stuff? It's so boring!" Aria whines as she walked up to buy her book.

"It's better than the fairy tales you're always reading." Justice added as h paid for her own.

"Have a good day, girls!" The friendly old man who owned the shop said as they walked out. Those two were regular customers to the old book shop, so he was very familiar with them.

"You excited for the camping trip?" Aria asked over her shoulder.

"Yep! It's really exciting that we finally can go by ourselves for once. By the way, great idea stopping by the shop to grab a book each to read on the way up." Justice complimented her friend. "Do you want the first shift of driving?"

"Not really, It'd be better if I drove at night since I'm the night owl in this relationship." Aria gave her a cheeky grin.

"What do you mean? I stay up late, all the time too!" Justice pouted a bit.

"You only stay awake for two things. To study or to be alert in case I try to do something to you in your sleep." Aria stuck her tongue out.

Justice tried to argue, but she really didn't really have anything to prove her case, so she sulked as they walked back to her house.

The two girls were greeted by their mothers. Aria's mom came over to see her daughter off and get one final inspection of what they were taking with them.

It was noon when the two were finally able to leave. Each time they tried to before, they got entangled with their parents teary goodbyes. With the water works they were giving them, you kinda would have thought they were going to war or something. But in all reality, they were.

After two days of driving and many driving switches later, they arrived to the small cabin their families bought together when they were small children.

"Ah! Fresh air never tasted so good!" Aria breathed in deeply as she exited the car.

"You say that every time we come here." Justice rolled her eyes. "Come on and help me put our stuff in the cabin and clean it."

"Yes ma'am." Aria saluted as she raced to the cabin to unlock it and start cleaning. "AAAAHH!" She screamed when she saw a spider. "Justice, save me!" She jumped behind her friend and cowered in fear.

Justice narrowed her eyes at her enemy and drew her weapon of choice. Wasp and spider killer. "This is war." She said as she gritted her teeth.

After a long, hard battle, which resulted from heavy casualties in both sides, the spider menace was gone, and the cabin was peaceful once more.

"My hero!" Aria cheered as Justice emerged from the hell's gates themselves.

"We lost many cans, but we won." She said wearily as she slowly raised up her can.

"Well I'll get started on the rest of the clean up. You relax for a bit then get dinner started." Aria called over her shoulder.

"I will." Justice immediately reached for her book and continued reading. She drove for most of the trip, and when she wasn't driving she was mostly sleeping so she didn't get much of a chance to read.

After a while, her strawberry blonde/red hair fell looser around her face, so she took a pale hand and put it into a low pony tail. She got up and looked into a mirror with her blue eyes and noticed the hints of green, showing she was in a good mood. After checking her hair was decent, she got to work on dinner.

Justice looked over at her crazy green eyed brunette. Aria's short hair kept getting in her face, so she put on a black and white bandanna.

While Aria slaved away at the rest of the cleaning, blasting the cd player to the highest it could go, Justice opted to make it a campfire dinner. She got out the hot dogs, bratwursts, and marshmallows as well as buns and condiments.

Next up was the fire. They still had a good supply from when they were up there last with their family, but they would need to chop more eventually. As justice set up the fire, Aria came out while reading her 'spell book'.

"This book is so cool! It believes in the principle of the 8 basic elements: fire, water, light, wind, lightning, sound, power, and life, but not in that order. Isn't it cool! This is the first I've seen of this theory of magic, but this book is so old that it must have been around for ages!" Aria babbled on and on.

This luckily gave Justice enough time to finish the fire and set up everything for dinner. "So are you gonna tell me about before or after dinner?" She gave her a flat look.

"One spell, please!" Aria gave her the puppy dog look with sparkling eyes and the pouty lip.

'Damn, she must be excited.' Justice thought with her poker face very much intact. "Only one." She said firm.

"Ok, ok. Let me find a really good one." Aria skimmed through the book until she found the right one. "Ariza Manten!" She shouted out.

"Told you." Justice rubbed it in while Aria sulked.

"Excuse me?" A random man's voice rang out from the tree line.

"Ack! It's a person!" Aria screamed.

"Who are you?" Justice said as she got into a defensive position.

"I am Solomon. And you summoned me." He walked right up to them. His blue, braided hair swished behind him and his Arabian styled clothes stood out.

"Oh my god! The spell worked!" Aria jumped up and down in glee.

"That's not possible. There is no such thing as magic and spells." Justice adamantly argued.

"I am considered a God, magic does exist, and I would like your help." Solomon said as he stood directly in front of the two.

Justice would humor Aria, but the moment hings got a little sketchy she would make him leave. "Oh, and what do you need help with?" Justice said as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"There is a darkness that looms over the future of my world, and I need help destroying it. If it is not destroyed it surely will be cast into death and darkness."

'Well he doesn't know sarcasm when he hears it.' Justice thought to herself. "I'm sor-"

"We'll help! I swear it!" Aria said with the fire of determination raging in her eyes.

Solomon smiled, and soon the group was surrounded in little glowing birds, traveling in what looked like space. Then in an instant he was gone. As the two entered the atmosphere, they were separated with the glowing birds splitting and following them in their fall.

This is where their adventure began.


	2. Chapter 2: The Dungeon of Mystros

"Jackass!" Justice cursed.

"Do you mean me?" Solomon smirked as he appeared next to her.

"What did you do to Aria!" Justice screamed at him.

"I am with her as well. As I said earlier, I am considered a god in this world." Solomon explained to her.

"Why. Is. She. Not. With. Me." Justice gave him a pointed glare.

"It wouldn't work that way, but you two will meet again." Solomon explained to her.

"Fine. So where are we any way?" Justice glared at him.

"This building is a dungeon. The dungeon of Mystros, Djinn of trickery and illusion. I will help you clear it." He said as he walked towards the glowing door.

"That's not much of an explanation." Justice glared as she followed him.

Solomon just ignored her rantings as he took her hand and went through the gateway. Justice stared in awe at the view, but before she could comment on the beauty, they were transported to a building filled with smoke and haze.

"Hey, Solomon, where are..." Justice looked around and saw that she was alone. "we?" She finished unsurely. "What the hell am I supposed to do in here!?" She screamed at the ceiling.

"Are you ok, miss?" A little boy, around 10, asked as he walked up next to her.

"Not really." She sulked.

"I'm sorry, miss. Um, can you please help me find my way out of here?" He asked her with big, yet mischievous, eyes. Justice put up her guard, but agreed anyway. "I think it's this way, miss." The boy said as he took her hand to lead her. Justice followed silently, but something about this kid seemed off to her.

'This is the dungeon of Mystros, Djinn of trickery and illusion.' She remembered Solomon's words from before they entered the dungeon. She had an idea.

"So your name's Mystros, huh?" Justice casually said as they walked among the smoke.

"Yep... oh." The boy noticed he revealed his true name. "You tricked me." Mystros said blankly. "I don't like it."

"I don't like it either, kid." Justice said flatly.

"You were right, Solomon. She is a smart one." Mystros grinned at her. "I guess it's time for the second part to this dungeon." Suddenly, the smoke swirled around her at a blinding speed. When it dissipated, she and Mystros were in a familiar park. Justice's blood ran cold. "Look familiar?" Mystros smirked at her.

"Take me away from here." She whispered.

"Nope! Oh look! A tiny you and a tiny Aria!" Mystros pointed at the two little girls playing on the playground. Justice watched the scene unfold.

Aria's father had taken them to the park to play, and was pushing them on the swing. Then a group of strange men came up to them. "Justice, take Aria and run!" Jacob Gardner yelled as he went to distract the men.

Justice and Aria kept running, but Justice was just a bit faster than her friend. "Ahh!" Aria screamed as she was grabbed by one of the men. "Keep running!" She ordered her friend. With tears in her eyes, Justice kept running until she got home and told her family.

"You abandoned your friend." Mystros looked at her with an unreadable expression. "You're the reason she was kidnapped... and that her father was killed." He accused her.

Justice stood still, bangs covering most of her face. "I had to."

"Really?" Mystros mocked her.

"Yes. Because sometimes you have to do the hardest thing imaginable for the greater good." Justice stared into his eyes, baring her soul and feelings into his own. Her tears kept running, and she shook in sorrow, but she would stay strong. So she can see Aria again.

Mystros smiled, and suddenly the image of the park faded away into a room filled with broken pottery and stone carvings. Solomon appeared in the middle of the room. He reached out and touched a metal arm bracelet. The room was suddenly filled with treasures and riches. "You have successfully cleared my dungeon." Mystros smiled up to her. "Here." He handed her a metal arm bracelet, but more suited for a woman. The moment she put it on her left arm, Mystros became a ball of light and shot into the brace.

"You can access these riches using one of Mystros' abilities." Solomon explained as they were leaving the dungeon.

"So what else can I do with him?" Justice asked.

"That's what I'm going to train you for." Solomon gave her a smile. "As a reward for not dying, here." He handed her a sphere decorated in gold. "It can allow you to talk to Aria, but only after she gets hers."

"And when does she get hers?" Justice asked impatiently.

"When she earns it like you did." Solomon transported them to an abandoned plateau. "Now start meditating. I want you to have better control of your rukh before I tech you how to fight."


	3. Chapter 3: Kouen! A Meeting to Remember

"Justice? Where are you?" Aria looked around nervously.

"She's clearing a dungeon." Solomon told her.

"AHH!" Aria screamed from the sudden voice. "Oh, it's just you." Aria said as she put her hand over her heart. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!" She chastised him.

"Would you like to start magic training immediately, or watch Justice clear a dungeon?" Solomon said to her after she's calmed down.

"I'll hear about it from her later, lets get going!" Aria gave him a big grin.

Solomon made a crystal bust of a woman appear. "This will allow us to see what kind of magician you are. Put your hands on each side of it." Aria followed his directions. "Now concentrate. All around you and in you, you feel a light warmth of power. It moves all around like waves in the sea. Picture yourself controlling that sea and moving the waves into the crystal."

Aria closed her eyes and followed his instructions... until she felt herself being electrocuted. "AHH! It's zapping me!" She yelled out as red lightning bolts shot out at her. "Why are they red?" Solomon asked out loud, not even paying attention to the fact she was being electrocuted. "A hybrid perhaps? Is that even possible?"

Aria finally let go of the crystal. Her hair stood in all directions and she was still shaking. "Jerk." Aria whisper-screamed. Solomon left his musings and sent a green light towards her, healing all of her injuries. "Still a jerk." Aria pouted as she tried to pat down and fix her still gravity defying hair.

"Here is a list of spells. Practice them so that when I return you have them perfected." And with that, Solomon vanished.

Aria looked at the desert oasis she was staying in and shrugged. "Well at least I get to learn magic."

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"Oh spirit of trickery and illusion, here my plea and give me the power to overwhelm my foes. Envelop me, use me, Mystros!" Justice yelled out. Suddenly, a smoky haze swirled around her, and what came out was a 10 yr. old Justice with fluffy fox ears, wearing metal armor pieces looked like a bikini with white silk like a gladiator, wearing gladiator shoes, metal arm bracelets, and a nice pair of fangs. Her hair color changed to a silver and black swirl and grew a matching tail.

"Good. After a month of non-stop training you have perfected the transformation part." Solomon complimented her.

"I still don't like looking like a kid." Justice growled out.

"Like it or not, you take on the traits from your Djinn when you enter this form. It allows you to use their power. Now try a spell." He ordered her.

"Whatever, Jerk. Mystrious Alzis!" Justice imagined a dragon and 'transformed' into one.

"Nice illusion." Solomon complimented her. "Try an extreme magic spell."

'Dragon' Justice rolled her eyes then turned back into her normal Djinn mode. "You're very demanding." Justice glared at him. He's been like this for days. "Amysti Jekaal!"She cried out. Then the valley changed into a suburban area.

"I think your ready now." Solomon said as he inspected the illusion. "I'll drop you off at the Dungeon of Corona, Djinn of Eternal Rage and Ferocity." Justice changed into her actual form as he said this.

"Can I get some normal clothes first?" She sweat dropped.

"Here." He gave her a pair of dark brown boots that hit the bottom of her knees, a sleeveless kimono top that went mid thigh, skin tight (yet flexible) dark blue pants, and a leather bag (much like a book bag). After she changed behind a tree, Justice tucked in her pocket knife in one of her boots.

"Thanks." She gave him a bright smile.

"Well that's a first." Solomon said as he looked at her smile.

"What? Am I not allowed to smile now?" She put her hands on her hips as she glared at him.

"I'm just not use to you smiling." Solomon shrugged.

"Jerk." She pouted.

Solomon dismissed her tantrum and transported them to the Tenzin Plateau in front of another Dungeon.

"Bye!" Justice waved as he disappeared. "Eh, might as well enter." So Justice walked through the gate, keeping Mystros cloaked with 'invisibility', like Solomon advised her to do.

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"Are you sure, Judar?" General Ren Kouen asked.

"Yeah, there was some strange magic that created a dungeon not too far from here." The black haired magi answered lazily. "It was super strong and then just vanished, but there's still someone in the area of it. They may have seen what happened."

Kouen processed this. "You, myself, and my household will go and question this person." Kouen ordered as he headed towards the dungeon.

"Yes, sir." Judar mock saluted. Kouen's household rolled their eyes at the childishness of the magi, but followed after Kouen.

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"I see that you have mastered your sub-types." Solomon said as he appeared next to Aria.

"Yep! Wind and life magic are done." Aria gave a big grin.

"I still find it strange that you're a hybrid of fire and lightning." Solomon gave her a thoughtful look.

"Well lightning is nothing more that a higher temperature of fire that is far more pressurized." Justice said through the communication sphere.

"Shouldn't you be in a dungeon?" Solomon asked her.

"Fine, I get the point. Talk to you later, Aria." Justice said before she turned off her end of the connection.

"She is right, ya know." Aria pointed out.

Solomon changed the topic. "A young boy who looks similar to me will show up here. Travel with him. Here is a change of clothes so you can blend in, a bag to carry your stuff, some money, and a wand." Then Solomon disappeared.

Aria shrugged and walked behind a group of palm trees. She put on a pair of light green leggings that hit her shins, a white and sleeveless dress that went to the top of her knees, tan sandal with white straps, and a silky white bandanna with green embroidery. She grabbed the wand. It was maybe five inches shorter than her own height and was made from a solid dark wood. It also had a decorated metal tip that had the magicians circle on it to amplify her power. "Sweet!" She gave a cheeky grin.

"Hello, pretty miss, I'm Aladdin, and I'm a traveler!"

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"Stupid Solomon." Justice grumbled as she glared at the magic item in her hand. After her mini rant, she put it away and cloaked it with Mystros. She looked around and saw that she was in a swamp that spouted off fire in the distance. "Lovely." She said with sarcasm practically dripping from her. She sighed and started walking.

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"It appears that the person entered the dungeon, Lord Kouen." Kokuton reported.

"Great! We can conquer a dungeon and gather this person at the same time." Gaku Kin said.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Judar said as he walked through gate followed by Kouen and his household. "A swamp? Ew, I'm flying." He complained.

"It appears the person we're looking for is female, if these tracks belong to the same person."Kouen said as he eyed the footprints.

They followed the trail until they reached a high wall made of fire. "Damn! It doesn't end over here either!?" They heard someone yell. Then the owner of that voice appeared to the right.

"Oh, um, hi. I'm Justice, and you all are?" Justice introduced when she came across the strange looking group of people in front of her.

"This mere slip of a girl is the person we're looking for? I expected someone more adventurous looking." Kin whispered to Shou.

"I can definitely feel something off about her." Judar stared at her in confusion and intrigue.

"Contrary to popular belief, I CAN hear you." She grew a tick mark of her forehead from frustration.

Kouen chose that moment to take action and grab her arm, preventing her from possibly escaping.

"Hey! What was that for!" She yelled at him as she struggled against his grip.

"You are going to answer all the questions I have, whether you like it or not." He narrowed his eyes at her.

Justice was absolutely terrified by the look in his eyes, but she would not back down. "The hell I am! I don't have to tell you strangers anything! Especially one that won't let go of my arm!" She yelled at him.

"Yep, she's got a death wish." Seishuu commented. Everyone watching nodded their heads in agreement.

"Jerks." Justice pouted.

Kouen was amused by her antics and just barely loosened his grip on her arm. Justice took this opportunity to break free and run.

Kouen's eyes sparkled and Judar grinned in glee. "Can I capture her?" The dark magi begged Kouen.

"Alive." Kouen answered.

"Yes!" Judar cheered as he took off after her.

Justice ran into an extra thick part of the swamp that was nearby. She heard the brief exchange between Kouen and Judar and decided to climb the nearest tree. 'This gives me an idea.' She thought to herself.

After Judar passed her hiding spot, she went back to where Kouen and his household where while still in the trees.

"So how long do you think it will take?" Seishuu asked.

"Not too long, but the important question is how long she'll live after he gets her." Kin answered him.

Justice felt as if someone walked over her grave after hearing that comment. She shook off the feeling and prepared herself for what she was going to do next.

"Hahahaha! I found you!" Judar cackled from above her.

Justice took off as Kouen and his household turned to watch after hearing Judar.

Justice ran across the tree branch and jumped on the sturdy tip like a diving board to add momentum as she jumped across the fire wall. She flipped in the air and landed gracefully on two feet before she started running. 'Thank god for track and gymnastics.' She commented in her mind.

Judar floated down to Kouen, still in shock. "Did that really just happen?" He asked no one in particular.

Kouen got that obsessive look in his eyes. He tried to Djinn equip so he could follow her, but something was blocking the use of his Djinn. "It appears that I can not use my Djinn equip." He told the group as Justice was gaining more ground. The members of his household tried using their household vessels, but to no avail. "Judar, get us over the wall." Kouen ordered.

Judar used his gravity magic. "Now let's catch that chick!" Judar cheered.

"Why do I feel like Solomon knew those guys would show up?" Justice ranted as she ran into an Aztec looking temple. "Watch out for traps. Watch out for traps." She repeated over and over. "Trip wires, movement sensitive lights, pressure pads on the floor, poison darts, torches, and Indiana Jones boulders! Whoever thought all this up knows pretty much every trap in the book." Justice said as she dodged yet another boulder.

The hall began to open up into a huge inferno. There was a deep river of lava, stalagmites and stalactites, and a field of geysers spouting steam and fire. This place was oozing a dangerous feel. The charred human remains didn't help the mood.

She was finally in the geyser field her pursuers showed up. It looked like all of them, except for Kouen, was singed, bleeding, or both.

"We've got you now, girlie!" Judar yelled at her.

She continued to run across the field, careful to listen to the warning sounds of an opening geyser. She was almost to the door when she felt the familiar hand of Kouen grabbing her and pulling her towards him. Judar had used his gravity magic to fling Kouen at her to capture the girl. She lost her balance and fell. Kouen was about to pull her up when the warning sound of an upcoming geyser went off under where he was standing.

"Move! Justice yelled as she pulled him away... only for him to land on top of her. "Ow." She squeaked. Then a huge gust of fire and steam spouted from where Kouen was standing. "You ok?' She asked when he finally got up off of her.

"Why did you save me?" He asked her coldly.

"Look, although I don't really like you at the moment and I don't even know who you all are, it doesn't mean I want you dead. So don't you dare insult me by thinking that." She answered with her snarky reply.

By this time Judar had transported everyone else to where they were. "You're going to pay for giving me the slip." Judar cackled with glee.

"Sadist." Justice sassed.

Kouen dismissed Judar and sighed. "I am Kouen Ren, General Commander of the Western Subjugation Army and First Prince of the Kou Empire." He pointed to Judar. "He is Judar, High Priest and Official Magi of Kou. These men are members of my household, Shou En, Seishuu Ri, Kin Gaku, and Kokuton Shuu." Kouen introduced.

"I'm Kaida Justice Lancaster, but I just go by Justice." She stuck out her hand for him to shake. He eyed it a bit, but shook it nonetheless. " So what is it you wanted to question me about?" She asked him. Meanwhile, Kouen's household and Judar went into shock.

"Judar felt a disturbance and a strange power in this area." Kouen told her.

"I don't really know anything about that, but when we get out of here I'd be willing to answer any questions." Justice shrugged.

Kouen lowered his head until his lips were extremely close to her ear. "If you try running again, I will find you." He whispered.

Justice flushed fifty million shades of red and barely managed to squeak an "Ok." Kouen smirked at her reaction.

"What just happened?" Kokuton asked in shock.

"I'm not sure." Kin answered.

"They're in looovvvee." Judar added in, sounding like a particular blue cat from another anime which they did not know.

"What the hell was that?" Seishuu asked after hearing the magi.

Justice chose to ignore them. "So, um, how do we open up this door?" She asked as she looked at the ornately decorated golden door. It shone with many precious jewels that decorated it. There was two groves shaped like two right hands. Kouen led her to the door and put his hand in one of the grooves, so she followed suit. The door shined ans the temple and swamp changed into an abandoned city.

"Isn't this a Necropolis, City of the Dead?" Justice asked as she looked around. Kouen nodded.

The group moved towards the center and entered a huge building that led to a room filled with broken pots and stone. Kouen walked up to the center of the room and touched the golden necklace sitting on the podium there. The room shone and everything turned into treasure and riches.

"Wow!" Justice said in awe as a blue, female giant appeared from the necklace.

She had a voice the crackled like fire. "I am Corona, Djinn of Eternal Rage and Ferocity, who is it that will be king?" The Djinn, Corona, said.

The blue giant looked around the room with an intimidating glare until her eyes landed on Justice and softened. "You are blessed by my King Solomon." Her tone sounded gentle and caring.

"Blessed of Solomon?" Kouen asked as he pierced her with his own gaze.

"Yes, it means that as long as she doesn't have too many contracts, any Djinn will make a contract with her." Corona explained as she shrunk down to their size. "Do you have anything metal?" Corona asked her.

Justice pulled out her pocket knife from her boot for the Djinn to inspect it.

"I've never seen a Djinn act like this before." Judar said.

Corona ignored him and evaluated the knife. "It looks cheap, however it is extremely durable and of amazing quality. It seems you also have a close bond with the person who gave it to you. It will be just fine." The Djinn gave Justice a nod.

"Hey, wait, old hag!" Judar yelled at the Djinn.

"What the hell did you just call me!?" She screamed in fury. In her moment of rage, her hair turned into a blue pool of intense fire.

"Why didn't his Equip work or his household receive their benefits?" Judar tried putting up a brave face. She was scary.

Once Corona had reeled her anger back in, she answered. "I blocked all use of Djinns and any benefits to household members because I want to test the true abilities of everyone that enters my dungeon. Kouen used your power whereas Justice used her own wits. Were she not blessed, I would still have chosen her."

"How come I can't tell she's 'blessed' by this Solomon guy?" Judar pressed, getting back his normal argumentative self.

Corona smirked at him. "Because you are only a magi, not a Djinn." She gave him a superior look and then entered Justice's knife, leaving an eight pointed star to show she was there.

Judar sputtered in anger at being one upped. The floor lit up and they were back in the plateau. 'You can access my treasure using Mystros.' Justice heard Corona's voice in her mind.

'Ok, thank you.' Justice mentally replied. "Oh... there's an army." She sweat dropped when she looked up and saw the enormous amount of soldiers. Kouen offered her his arm. She took it and followed him around.

"How long have we been?" He asked one of his officers.

"Two hours, sir." The man saluted.

'But it felt like days? Can you explain this Mystros, Corona?' Justice asked her Djinns.

'Time flows differently in Dungeons.' Mystros told her.

'Thank you.' She told him.

"We will make camp here." Kouen ordered his men.

And that's how Justice ended up befriending Kouen. But what sort of people will Aria meet and just what will she go through to protect her new friend?


	4. Chapter 4 : His Name is Alibaba

'This kid does look a lot like Solomon.' Aria thought to herself. "Hi, I'm Aria." She smiled brightly at him.

"Where are your headed, Big sister Aria?" Aladdin asked her.

'Big sister?' "I'm just wondering around the desert aimlessly. What about you?" Aria asked.

"I'm searching for more Djinns for Ugo!" Aladdin pointed to his flute.

"Who's Ugo?" Aria asked.

Aladdin smiled and blew into the flute, cause a giant pair of blue arms to emerge from the flute. "this is Ugo." He smiled at her.

"Well, nice to meet you, Ugo." Aria smiled at the blue arms, once her shock faded.

The arms turned towards her and turned a bright pink before receding back into the flute. "Heh, he's shy around pretty girls." Aladdin rubbed the back of his head.

"If you want, I can help you find more of these Djinns. I happen to be a magician in training so I can be of some use." Aria bragged a bit.

"Really!? That's so amazing!" Aladdin's eyes shone even brighter. "I'd love to travel with you, thank you!" The boy was very excited.

Aria grinned back.

The two decided to grab some water from the oasis they were currently at before they started traveling. Because of that whole staying hydrated so they can live thing. Very important. Along the way, they managed to hitch a ride on a caravan in return for helping in the next bazaar.

"This is my daughter Sahsa and her friend Leila. Follow their directions and don't screw up." The leader of the caravan said in a gruff voice.

"Yes, sir!" The two saluted. The man nodded and went his way.

Sahsa and Leila mostly had them carrying the fruits and empty crates to and from the wagons and the stand.

"You two, man the stand while we talk to Sahsa's father." Leila ordered them/

"Sure." Aria shrugged.

"She's mean." Aladdin pouted after they left.

"She's just doing her job." Aria reasoned.

A dark, gruff looking guy came up to the stall. "So how much is this fruit?" He asked.

"This is pretty high quality stuff, so we normally sell it for 20 a pop, but if you buy 3 I'll sell them altogether for 45." Aria had a blank look on her face.

The man's eyes lit up, thinking he got a great deal and took it.

"But Aria, we only sell them for 5." Aladdin whispered after the man left.

She gave him a cheeky grin. "I know that, you know that, but they don't know that. This is a, er, sales trick I picked up on when I was a kid." She whispered back to him.

"Oh... You're really smart!" He smiled up at her.

"Thanks!"

This was when Sahsa and Leila came back.

"How did you get this much money?" Leila eyed them suspiciously.

"The guy wanted to but them 15 a piece." Aria shrugged.

Leila went into lecture mode/interrogation mode.

Sahsa smiled and laughed a bit as Aria only gave vague answers. "Your sister is very good at this." She told Aladdin.

He blushed happily at her calling Aria his sister. "Thank you." He told her shyly.

Sahsa's father finally got wind of Aria's sale and came up to her. "You sold three fruits for 15 a piece?" He stared her down.

"Yes." She answered in a serious tone.

He thought about this for a bit. "You're on selling for the rest of the day." He immediately turned around, leaving a laughing Sahsa and a sputtering Leila in his wake. Leila turned to see Aria smiling like a Cheshire cat.

The caravan stayed in that city a few days before they started traveling again. Every night, Aria used her communication orb to talk to Justice very late at night when both their camps were asleep. They told each other what was going on and what adventure they had for that day.

"And that's when Aladdin called out Ugo and saved the caravan from a band of thieves!" Aria talked with her hand going all over the place.

"Sounds like a riot." Justice laughed at her friend. "I had a strange experience today too." She blushed a bit at the memory.

"Oh ho? Tell me everything." Aria's teen girl instincts were kicking in.

"Well..."

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

Justice was being treated well. Kouen had lent her the use of a smaller tent that could probably hold 5 people or so comfortably. She was given food thrice a day, and got to sleep in every so often. He questioned her extensively about the presence Judar sensed, but he gave up after she repeatedly told him she didn't know.

They ended up talking about a lot of things after that, like politics, geography, magic, military ideas, and finally, Djinns. Kouen even went so far as to offer to teach her how to use her Djinn. On the condition that she considers joining the Kou Empire.

She agreed, and has been honestly thinking about it. Sure they had problems, but as she remembered from her political history class, most major empires struggled as they came to power.

Whenever Kouen wasn't around to teach her the use of Corona, Judar hung around her. As a result, the black haired Magi was who she spent the most time with since Kouen needed sleep and food, as well as run an entire army.

Judar was mischievous, just like Aria, so he often pulled pranks. He would run them through Justice for critique and then go out. However he tried a few on her here and there. Aria was much better, though, so Justice would normally see through his veiled attempts at amusing himself at the cost of other's humiliation.

"Hi, Kouen." Justice said lazily from her futon (bed).

"Hello." He barely winced as he sat down at her desk to work. He prefered working in her room because no one but himself and Judar were allowed in there.

"You ok?" She sat up in concern.

"Why do you ask?" He gazed at her, unaware she noticed his momentary lapse of self control.

"You winced as you sat down and you're sitting very rigidly. So what's wrong?" She said in a no nonsense tone of voice.

He refused to look at her as he answered. "I hurt my back a bit." He admitted with a sharp tone.

"And, pray tel, how did that happen?" She smirked at him, already knowing the answer.

He closed his eyes in annoyance. "I must have slept on it wrong."

"Maybe if you didn't fall asleep at your desk all the time your back wouldn't hurt." She lectured him He just turned back to do his work.

His sharp intakes of breath was annoying her, as well as his nearly silent grunts of pain. 'Stubborn idiot.' She thought angrily to herself. She sighed to herself as an idea came to her. "Take your shirt off and lay on your stomach." She ordered him, trying to keep a blush from spreading to her cheeks.

Kouen slowly raised his eyebrows as he turned, gently, to face her. "What?"

"Don't make me repeat myself." She said angrily as the blush finally appeared across her face.

Kouen grudgingly got up and did as she ordered.

Justice gawked at his nicely developed chest and arms. 'Damn! When did he get so good-looking?' She blushed even harder from her perverted mind.

She shook her head, as if to clear out her previous thoughts, and kneeled next to him. She tentatively placed her hand on his muscled back and started rubbing.

"What are you doing?" Kouen asked, holding back a moan.

"Whenever my mom's back would hurt, I'd give it a back massage to help it get better. She worked at a desk all day, so this was a common occurrence." She explained. "So you'd better be grateful we're friends." She turned her head away so he couldn't see her embarrassed features, not that Kouen could see in any way.

"When did this happen?" He tried turning his head to see her, but to no avail.

Justice glared at him. "It just did." She said sharply.

"Hey, Kouen, the generals are looking for... What are you two doing!?" Judar yelled as he entered the tent.

"His back was hurting." Justice lamely defended herself.

"Kouen, one would think at your age and status that you's know hoe to do this correctly by now." The Magi joked as Kouen started getting up.

"Judar," Kouen started.

"you're gonna die." Justice finished with a feral grin.

"Yeah right." Judar waved them off.

"Spirit of Eternal Rage and Ferocity, obey my will and give me your power so I may destroy all that stand against me in my conquest. Corona!" Justice chanted as Kouen equipped his own Djinn.

"Pssshhhh. You've had that Djinn for only a month and a half, you can't Djinn equip." Judar laughed... or at least until her hair turned a deep blood red, her body adorned red and black armor, and her pocket knife transformed into a katana of fire.

Judar paused in shock then started running with Justice and Kouen on his heals. The whole time, though, an impressed smirk was proudly worn on Kouen's face.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"You gave him a massage! You only give those to people you like, and you hate people! What is life?!" Aria whisper yelled.

"Over-dramatic much?"

"Yes I am."

"I love you, but I hate you too."

"You're only proving my point."

"Night."

Eventually Aria introduced Aladdin to Justice. He was so happy to have another friend that even in his sleep he had a happy, innocent smile only a child could have.

The parted ways from the caravan in the city before Qishan. The leader of the caravan gave them some money and some of their best fruits as well.

The two of them boarded a covered wagon to get to the next city, Qishan. They's heard there was a dungeon there, so they wanted to go. However, a certain man-boobed wine merchant also chose to ride in that wagon to transport his wine, but the wine was taking up the space in the other wagons.

Aria could see the perverted glint in Aladdin's eyes and moved over to talk to a woman and her daughter.

"AHHH! What is this dirty little urchin doing!?" Budel screamed as his man tits were being fondled.

"I just love boobs! But why do you have boobs, Mister? I thought you were a guy." Aladdin asked just before the blonde haired driver stopped the cart and and went to try and remove him.

"Hey, you little brat, stop that!" The driver tried pulling him off. When that didn't work, he resorted to slapping Aladdin across the face.

Aria went into rage mode as she stood up and walked over to them.

Aladdin was super scared because he's only seen her happy and silly. This Aria was scary.

She glared at the blonde and decked him a good one. "You are NOT allowed to hit my brother like that." She hissed out to him.

"Ye... yesss ma'am. Won't happen again!" He stuttered before crawling back so he could continue driving.

Aria grabbed Aladdin and sat him next to her as she simultaneously lectured him and glared at Budel.

An hour after the incident, the wagon stopped so everyone could have a lunch break. Aria and Aladdin ate some of their fruit as Budel eyed it with a hungry look. "I want some. I'll buy it from you if you want." His annoying voice spoke up.

"Give me 250." Aria demanded.

"That is way too expensive!" He yelled.

"Then you aren't getting any." Aria continued to eat.

After a moment of silence he gave in to her demand. "Fine. Here." He grudgingly handed over the hefty sum of money, much to the driver's shock and amazement.

"Pleasure doing business." Aria said in a monotone voice as she handed a few pieces of fruit.

"Are you a merchant, Miss? Only merchants pull off deals like that." The blonde driver said as he pulled out his own measly lunch.

"I'm a magician, but I have practice in selling stuff. I am Aria and this is my brother Aladdin." She introduced with a frighteningly friendly smile.

"Nice to meet you." He shivered a bit. "I'm Alibaba."


	5. Chapter 5: Too Many Black-Outs

A desert hyacinth... A fucking flower attacked them and Aria was unconscious for it all.

"What happened?" you ask? Well, the moment the god-be-damned plant attacked, tons of wood from the carriage splintered and was aimed for the little girl and her mother. Seeing as they couldn't move in time, Aria blocked them from most of the hit, but ended up being knocked unconscious.

"Hsssssssss." She growled at the blonde that explained what happened to her.

"Ahhhhhh! Aladdin! Save me!" Poor, poor Alibaba cried out as he used the boy as a human shield.

"Big sister, please don't hurt my friend. We wanted to wake you up to go party, before we go into the dungeon!" Aladdin put on his cutest, happy look.

Aria sighed in defeat. "Sounds like fun." She smiled brightly at the two. "Let's go!"

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"Why are we at a brothel?" Aria deadpanned.

"To party of course." Alibaba answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Aria just shook her head and followed in.

Aladdin took no time going after the breasts of the women sent to them.

Shockingly, all the other women flocked to Aria, waiting on her hand and foot. She noticed Alibaba's gaze and stuck her tongue out at him. "Jealous?" She asked him as one of the women moved in to give her a lap dance.

"Service time will begin in a moment." An announcement was made.

Not too much longer Alibaba was viciously attacked.

"I could get used to this." Aria smiled, completely ignoring the poor blonde.

"Ah huh." Aladdin agreed with her.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

That was 12 hours ago. Now Aria was inside the dungeon with her two companions. They had gone through most of the obstacles, but Aladdin was very weak so she and Alibaba chose to hide in a cold cave off to the side.

Aria took out a peach seed and buried in into the dirt. "Azael Indur." She quietly chanted over the area. Suddenly, a warm light lit up the cave, and a peach tree with many fruit stood in its place.

"Wow!" Aladdin and Alibaba said in unison.

"Eat up. Then you need some rest, Aladdin.I'll grab a few of these and go on ahead, alright?" Aria said to them.

"Ok." Aladdin smiled weakly.

"I'll look after him." Alibaba promised her.

She only nodded with a smile and then left their hidden cave.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

Aria woke up in a weird tent next to Aladdin. 'Why does this keep happening?' Aria thought as she rubbed a sore part of her head, only to find some crusted blood caked in her hair.

She suddenly had a small flash back.

"What the hell! You LEFT him with that jack ass lord and his cronies!" Aria screamed at the stupid idiot.

"Just follow me... please." The shaking blonde said. It was never safe for anyone when Aria was made.

Aria followed him and helped him get Aladdin back. She hugged the ever loving daylights out of the poor boy once they were on solid ground and on their way back to the golden doors.

'Well, that explains some of it. Maybe more will come in time, but first...' Aria looked at the old woman who hobbled into the tent. "Where are we?"

"Why you are at the Kouga Clan, Child. I am Baba, who are you?" The woman gave a bright and friendly smile.

"I'm Aria. Aria Sherwood. The little boy over there is my brother Aladdin." Aria returned the smile tenfold as Toya walked in.

"Are you feeling alright? I can clean up your wound for you." The happy young woman offered.

"I'd very much appreciate it. I'm Aria, by the way." The magician said as she took off her bandanna for easier access.

"I'm Toya. I need a bit of help milking the horses in a bit, would you like to help me?" She asked as she cleaned to dried blood from the other girl's hair.

"I don't know how, but if you teach me I'd be glad to help." Aria smiled.

"Great!" Toya smiled back. "It looks like your wound has healed up, just don't get hit there again and you'll be fine.

"Awesome." Aria said as she put her bandanna back on.

In the background, Baba was smiling from ear to ear as she watched Aria and Toya become fast friends.

As they walked out, Aria got another flashback.

"It's a good thing there's two of us then." Aladdin told Alibaba.

"COUGH three COUGH." Aria indiscreetly added.

Aladdin rubbed his head in embarrassment. "Yeah, three. Sorry, Aria." The bluenette apologized.

"Naw, it's good. Go do your open sesame thing already." Aria waved them off.

Not too much longer a blinding light filled the area as the doors opened, revealing...

"You alright?" Toya asked when Aria snapped out of it.

"Yeah I just zoned out for a bit, that's all." Aria rubbed her head in embarrassment.

"If you're sure." Toya said in an unsure tone.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"What do you want, Judar?" Justice whined as the dark magi dragged her to Kouen's private tent. He had one for General-ing and another that was strictly his quarters and completely off limits.

"Kouen wants to see you." He said as he pulled her harshly along.

'Someone's still upset about me and Kouen barbecuing his ass.' Justice thought to herself.

"Why?" She asked, not even paying attention to the fact she was now right in front of said person.

"Because you never mentioned that you had another Djinn." Kouen answered her in a rather dark tone.

'He looks pissed.' Justice sighed on the inside. 'He's never fun to talk to when he's pissed.' She sulked.

"Don't even try to deny it. I used my power as a magi and saw the symbol of a Djinn on your arm band." Judar crossed his arms over his chest.

"You never asked." Justice shrugged.

Judar anime fell and Kouen grew a tick mark at her response.

"In that case," Kouen stood up from his seat and stood right in front of her, giving off his most menacing scowl. "what else haven't you told me?"

"Hmmm. I conquered Mystros, Djinn of Trickery and Illusion, I talk with my best friend Aria every night. I am 18, and schooled through a variety of subjects, and I have been putting a lot of thought into swearing fealty to you." Justice finished off her list.

Kouen thought over this as a message came. "Prince Kouen, Lord Judar is to take a magic transfer circle to meet with one of the priests in Qishan." The scout announced.

Judar said his goodbyes and left Kouen to think over the current situation by himself. "Go to bed. I will visit you when I'm done thinking on the matter." Kouen waved his hand to dismiss her.

This time, Justice got pissed. "Don't wave your hand like i'm some damn servant." She growled out.

"I will do what I want, and you are in no position to argue with me." Kouen narrowed his eyes, but surprisingly found himself feeling a bit better. He was glad she was still being herself even when the possibility of death was hanging over her.

"And I do what I want." She threw his words back at him. "And what I want is for you to understand that I did nothing wrong."She took a step forward and crooned her neck to be able to glare at him in the face. This was a bit of a challenge due to the extreme height difference.

Kouen smirked and leaned in to whisper into her ear like he did in the dungeon. "Go and sleep. I will see you in the morning."

His deep voice and extreme proximity turned Justice as red as a tomato. She didn't even bother answering as she left his tent.

"I win." Kouen said as he watched her leave.


	6. Chapter 6: Understanding Justice

**I know we all hate announcements, but I wanted to add a bit of clarity before the story. I wanted to be clear that for now, the story is going to focus more on Justice than Aria.**

 **My reasoning is, is that we've all seen the show or read the manga so we know what happens when Aria is with Aladdin. What we don't know is what was going on in Kou. I wanted to focus on that more to add some more intrigue to the plot and maybe some new possibilities to see things from another angle.**

 **Thank you for reading and please enjoy!**

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"Staring at me isn't going to change anything." Justice glared at Kouen as she went through her daily yoga routine. Her mother was big into the stuff, so Justice had learned quite a bit, even though she absolutely hated it. The only reason she was even doing it was because there was literally NOTHING to do.

"I've decided to study you for the day." Kouen said nonchalantly as he got comfortable.

"That's not creepy at all." Justice quipped sarcastically as she rolled her eyes. She gracefully moved into the next positions which had Kouen inwardly wincing.

"What are you doing?" He finally asked after she shifted into yet another pose.

"It's called yoga. My mom is really into it and has forced me through the years to study it with her." She grunted out as yet another painful pose was done.

"You seem to not like it, so why are you doing it?" Kouen said in curious tone.

"I've got nothing better to do." Justice sat cross-legged and shrugged before starting to meditate.

This, this is something Kouen knew of. Meditating was a great way to create balance between body, soul, and mind. Having this balance helps with strengthening magoi in a person. This was usually done in the Yambala Magoi Manipulation Tribe.

They continued like this until very late at night when Aria called.

"Justice! Justice! Guess what! I learned how to milk a horse!" Aria said with her usual excited chatter.

"Cool. I learned that I still hate yoga with a fervent, unrequited passion." Justice said with a cheeky grin in place, not that Aria could see it.

"HAHA very funny. So other than that, what's up?" Aria asked.

"Oh just the usual. Kouen found out I have Mystros and suddenly doesn't trust me anymore and has been more or less staring at me all day." Justice talked as if said prince wasn't there... Which he was.

"I THINK I HEAR WEDDING BELLS!" Aria shrieked with joy, causing everyone in earshot to wince. "Give me little nieces and nephews! Oooh and I better be in the wedding I'll shank a bitch." Aria gushed and gushed.

"Aria." Justice said, but she kept at it.

"Aria!" This time she yelled, but still the excited brunette kept going.

"ARIA!" Justice screamed into the magic tool, finally getting her friend to settle down.

"Yes?" Aria said, clueless to what was really going on.

"Firstly, it's not like that. Secondly, he's here with me to talk to you too." Justice blushed from the embarrassment of the situation.

"Oh... Well talk away, Kouen, Sir." Aria had her go with the flow tone back.

"So you are the Aria Justice has talked about." Kouen murmured, unaware the girl heard him.

"You told him about me?" Aria gasped. "Did you two finally do the deed? Am I going to be an aunt? Oh my god, I'm going to be an aunt!" Aria got all squeal-ly again.

Kouen raised his eyebrow, as if to question Justice. "That's NOT what happened, Aria." Justice said with an even redder face.

"But you gave him a massage, and you only give those to friends..." Aria pointed out.

"I hate you all." Justice went to her little emo corner and sulked.

Aria and Kouen ignored her for a while. "So what did you really want to talk about?" Aria got as close to serious as Aria could get.

"Do you think Justice should join Kou?" He asked after putting much thought into what he really should ask.

"Ehhhhhh, I think it would be more appropriate if she only swore fealty to you. People can betray one another for the sake of their country, but if she swears to you, you will always have her support." Aria gave her most honest and wise opinion.

Justice had already left her emo corner and was listening to their conversation. She let out a sigh and tuned to Kouen as she bowed on one knee and put her fisted hand into the palm of her other hand and bowed her head. "I, Kaiden Justice Lancaster, hereby swear absolute fealty and loyalty to Ren Kouen, First Prince of Kouen and General Commander of the Western Subjugation Army. My life is yours. With Aria as witness, I am at your service." Justice pledged.

Kouen nodded, but before he could say anything, Aria jumped in to mess with her friend once more. "Good. I now pronounce you man and wife. Please kiss." Aria grinned like a psychopath, and though they couldn't see it, they felt it.

"Would you stop that!" Justice yelled.

""Bye, love birds!" Aria disconnected from the conversation.

"Please ignore her silly conclusion." Justice blushed as she turned to Kouen.

Kouen was rather fond of seeing a flustered Justice. It never really happened, so he was milking this situation for all it was worth. "Now why would I do that?" He gave his infamous smirk.

"Gah! Not you too!" Justice yelled out in frustration as she stormed out of her tent.

Kouen followed her to remind her that they were in her tent, but before he could tell her, Seishuu showed up. "I message was sent from Lord Judar. It appears he will be returning to Kou with the other priests, Prince Kouen. If you have need of me for anything, please let me know." He bowed before standing up.

However, rather than leave, he sent Justice a dirty look and his snake hair started hissing at her. "Got something to say, Snake Boy?" Justice leveled her gaze. What was happiness and teenage girl-ness a few minutes ago was replaced by cool, cold, and uncaring. Kouen was very intrigued by this change.

"Ungrateful wench! You are undeserving of Prince Kouen's time and generosity, yet you disgrace him with your vulgar presence." He raged as the surrounding soldiers and other members of Kouen's household watched on.

Justice put on an air of ice and intimidation around her. "Who are you to make such a call? Your loyalty is admirable, but your attitude is absolutely god-awful and overbearing. The fact that you cannot treat anyone who is not Kouen proves to show how much of a weak minded and annoying prick you really are."

When she glared at him, it felt like she was glaring into his soul. This scared him to no end, but he pushed this anyway. He didn't was to seem weak in front of Prince Kouen. "Then I challenge you to a fight. Loser has to leave forever." He pointed at her in a dramatic way, so sure of himself that he was blindsided by her answer.

"No." She told him flatly, causing everyone to anime fall in utter shock and surprise.

"I challenged you. Are you really so afraid and weak that you can'y accept?" He tried goading her.

"I have sworn my loyalty to Kouen just like you, and I refuse to break my vow and yours by going through with your petty challenge. I'm not afraid to fight, but I will only fight for something that's worth it." She more or less got the last bit from the Disney Movie of Mulan. She left everyone in shock and returned to her tent.

Justice laid in her bed and tried to calm down.

'I am so pissed off. Corona, I think I'm getting a temper thanks to you.' Justice said mentally to her Djinns.

'Nothing wrong with that. That guy is annoying anyway.' Corona raged right along with her.

'You both have terrible tempers.' Mystros giggled at them, but was somewhat angry too. Justice was their King Candidate and anyone who disrespected her was subject to their wrath.

Justice sighed. 'So how are you two doing?'

'I'm itching to fight.' Corona answered with an almost feral grin.

'I am a bit stir crazy too.' Mystros added.

Justice yawned as sleep tried to claim her. "Maybe soon." She said. "Maybe soon."

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

Kouen walked in early the next morning. "Wake up." He ordered her sleeping form.

"But sleep is so nice." She muttered as she turned away from him to snuggle deeper into her pillow.

"Wake up, or I'll get Seishuu to get you up."

"I'm up, I'm up." She sat up groggily.

"Good. We are returning to the Capital, so get ready for the day." He said before walking out of her tent.

"Stupid prince." Justice growled as she changed from her PJ's into the clothes Solomon had provided her, but in red tones instead of blue. She hurriedly packed her small amount of things into her leather pack and walked out to join up with Kouen.

The moment she stepped out of her tent, a band of soldiers went to work taking it down and packing it up.

"It is too early for this." She whined when she finally caught up to Kouen. He, as usual, smirked at her misery.

"I would like your suggestions when we get to the Capital." He told her in hopes of uplifting her mood.

"What's so wrong with the communication thing we talked about?" She glared through half-lidded eyes, sleep obviously the main thing on her mind.

"That is still in testing and not yet perfected." Was the excuse he fed her.

"Why can't I sleep?"

"If you can find someone to ride with you or carry you, you may." Kouen told her.

"But I don't like people and people don't like me."

"Then you're out of luck."

"You're a jerk."

"So you've said."

"So you don't deny it?"

"I never agreed with it either."

"The evidence proves you're a jerk." Kouen didn't say anything in his defense. "I win." She replied cheekily.

Kouen wanted to roll his eyes, but his household was watching, so he couldn't.

"You're riding a horse, right?" Justice asked after a few minutes of peace and quiet.

"Yes." He answered her.

"Then can't I ride with you?"

"No." Was his answer.

"I'll stop calling you a jerk." She bribed him.

Kouen sighed. He couldn't let her ride with him for certain reasons, and he couldn't have her ride with his household. Seishuu didn't like her, Kin was too handsy with women, Shou was quiet yet had a temper, and Kokuton was a bit more, er, savage.

"No. Now, I'll show you the basics of how to ride a horse." He grunted out.

"Why?" She tilted her head in confusion, then she thought it through a bit. "Let me guess, riding with you is some symbol-y thing and you don't trust me with anyone else because I, or them, would end up trying to kill the other." She surmised.

Kouen was a bit surprised she figured it out. Kouen nodded and gave her a quick tutorial on how to ride a horse.

She rode alongside the dragon Shou, shocking everyone because it was in complete silence. Justice wasn't a fool. She felt his rage when she and Seishuu argued, and she really, really didn't want to end up on the wrong side of his fire breath. That, and she had to concentrate on riding her horse. People in movies made it look so easy!

They had been riding all day until it was evening. Rather than set up tents, everyone was given blankets to use. Justice was wrapped up in her blanket as she stared into the fire in front of her. "What do you need?" She asked softly to the person coming up behind her.

"Prince Kouen asked me bring this to you." Shou handed over her meal. She gingerly grabbed it from him.

"Thank you." She said with a smile.

Shou furrowed his brow in confusion. He'd only seen her as a disrespectful, loudmouth of a girl that Prince Kouen was more or less forced to deal with. Why is she so friendly all of a sudden?

"If you want to ask me something, go ahead." Justice said as she began to eat her dinner.

"Why the sudden change of attitude?" He eyed her warily.

"I'm not normally so, er, bitchy. You have only caught me at bad moments." She continued eating.

"Then why were you acting differently?" He questioned as he chose to sit down next to her to eat his own meal.

Justice heard people hiding in the surrounding woods. 'Most likely Kouen and the rest.' Mystros told her. "For starters, me and my best friend were taken from our home and separated to train in various skills. Then I ended being more or less kidnapped by you guys. Not really the best way to see my good side." She answered with a shrug.

"So what exactly are you skills?"

"I like reading, I am a quick learner, I've studied battle strategies, hand-to-hand combat, and weaponry. I've been in sports all my life and I can change my temperament to deal with various situations." She told him.

Shou though about this before he continued on. "Why haven't you informed Prince Kouen?"

"He never asked the right questions. I won't go on a narrative about my life, but if someone I trust asks me something specific, I'll answer." She set her plate down and returned her gaze to the fire.

"Why do you trust me?"

"Because Kouen does. He is an excellent judge of character, so why not trust his judgement? Speaking of, I'm sorry if I offended you at any point during my stay. It wasn't my intention." She looked at him and smiled.

"It's alright. I, too, am sorry for any grievances I may have caused you." He smiled back. The two sat back in a comfortable silence until Justice broke it. "I'm still not apologizing to Seishuu." She added stubbornly.

Shou started laughing, something nearly none of the eavesdroppers had ever seen before. "And why would that be?" He managed to say between laughs.

"Because he's still a jerk." She grinned like a Cheshire cat, knowing from the angry sputtering that said jerk was in the woods.

If it was possible, Shou's laughter became even louder, to the point that even Justice started laughing along with.

Kouen inwardly smirked as he pulled an angry Seishuu away. The other household members joined Justice and Shou and started telling different campfire stories.


	7. Chapter 7: The Capital

"Shou, can I ride with you?" Justice asked the next morning.

The blue dragon looked at her curiously. "Why?" He finally asked.

"Kouen gave me these reports that I need to read, and I can't read them and focus on riding a horse at the same time." She showed him the considerable stack of papers.

He thought it over for a minute. "Alright." He nodded his head.

"Thank you!" She smiled brightly up to him. He smiled back at her, feeling comfortable around the young woman.

When it was time to head out, Justice settled in behind him and began reading the 'homework' Kouen gave her. It varied to historical records on the Kou Empire, weather reports on Balbadd, travelling records, EVERYTHING they have on Sinbad, Balbadd's history, and even eligible princesses for marriage proposals.

'So he wants to me to help take over Balbadd, huh? I'll help, but I really don't want there to be too much fighting.' Justice thought to herself as she continued reading, filing all the information away into her mind.

She came up with a few ideas based on the info, but needed to hear a few more ideas to be sure.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

It was literally the middle of the night when they arrived at the palace.

Since they were so close to the capitol, Kouen chose to have them continue on without making camp.

"Sooo tired... must sleep." Justice mumbled in a zombie-like state. She finally passed out from exhaustion just as the horse came to a stop.

"Lord Kouen, what should we do?" Shou asked in reference to the sleeping woman behind him.

Kouen looked at the girl's sleeping form. She looked so peaceful and content in her sleep, unlike how she sometimes acted during her waking moments. "I'll carry her." He said as he brought the girl into his arms.

He carried her bridal style into the palace, secretly enjoying how she cuddled into him for warmth, and placed her into the room to the right of his. Tradition be damned, he wanted to keep the girl nearby and safe.

He laid her into the bed, but had to force her a bit to let go of his clothes. After winning that war, he went to his own room and got settled in to sleep.

There were many things to do the next day, but for right now sleep was needed. It was a long day, for everyone.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

'Where am I?' Justice thought as she woke up in a super comfy bed.

'We're in the Kou Imperial Palace.' Mystros answered.

'Yep. Kouen carried you in after you fell asleep.' Corona teased her.

Before Justice could go off on the crazy Djinn, Kouen barged into the room. "Good, you're up. We are going to get you some proper clothing and some armor. Then we will take lunch in my study, wait for a while, and then go to a meeting." He ordered her.

"You are a jackass." Justice said plainly, not really wanting to get back up.

Kouen chose not to argue with her, and ended up grabbing her arm and carting her around from place to place.

First on the list, was the tailor. Justice ended up leaving wearing red, kinda poofy pants that ended at her knees because that was where her new black boots started with her pocket knife tucked in. Her top consisted of a golden colored kimono that had the sleeves tucked into her arm band an the identical one Kouen got her for the other arm. The kimono top had a red, tribal sun on the left shoulder and red flames at the end of the sleeves.

Next, he dragged her to an armory next to find decorative breastplate. After all, all generals had to look the part, not that she knew that. They were able to find a piece that perfectly shaped around her breasts, having the Kou insignia in between the breasts, and a decorative gold design under the breasts.

Lastly, he took her to get her hair into something presentable. The ladies pulled her hair up into a high pony tail and put it into a hair ornament. The base was simplistic, but had a red ruby adorning the center, and the actual piece was long and thin, but at the end it was shaped like an elaborate butterfly encrusted with jewels.

"Food." Justice groaned in hunger. Kouen didn't let her get breakfast, so she was starving. "I want food." She whined at him.

"We are almost to my office." Kouen reassured her, tense himself.

Luckily for them, a servant was waiting there with food for them. She was a young girl, 12 to 13 with spikey blonde hair pulled into high pigtails. She had pale skin and beautiful pink eyes. "Here is your lunch, Prince Kouen and guest." The cheerful girl smiled brightly as she got the food prepared for them.

"What's your name?" Justice asked the girl after she completed her task.

"I'm Laxa, ma'am." The girl bowed in respect, and left to wait outside the door until called to clean up.

"I like her." Justice smiled.

"Maybe you could taker her on as a household member." Kouen said in thought.

"What's that?" Justice asked after taking a bite of the mouthwatering morsel of food.

"A household member?" Kouen saw her nod. "Household members are chosen warriors or those favored by a King's Candidate that receives magical benefit from a Djinn to help their King." Kouen explained as he ate, showing absolute grace and nobility. "She will be your Household member." He announced after some thought. "Enter." Kouen said a bit loudly to bring the servant girl in. "You will be Lady Justice's Household Member." He told the young girl.

"Kouen! Let the girl have a choice!" Justice yelled at him in protest as Laxa froze from shock.

Eventually Laxa broke free from her surprise, and jumped up and down in joy. "I'd be honored to! Oh, would my big brother be able to as well? He's pretty good at fighting and stuff." Laxa blushed a bit.

"That would be advantageous. Yes he may." Kouen told her.

"Yay! I just know Kyree will be so excited about this. He currently working in a market stall to prevent thieves." Laxa explained to them.

"Bring him here tomorrow. You are dismissed." Kouen nodded to her. The girl, Laxa, bowed deeply to them both and ran off.

The two finished their lunch in relative peace, and then Kouen decided to quiz Justice on the reports. He was impressed with how much she retained from them.

"Time for the meeting." Kouen announced and had Justice follow him closely. "Do not speak out of turn. You will be given a chance to voice you're own opinion when they are asked for. Just raise your hand and wait to be acknowledged. Understood?" Kouen explained quickly.

"Got it, and thank you." She said just before they entered the meeting room.

Inside the room was the Emperor and Empress, all the current generals, the three princes and their households, and also some nobles. It was the Empress that acknowledged Justice first. "Kouen, who is that young woman behind you? This is a private meeting, son. Future brides are not to be here." She said in reference to the room Justice stayed in.

"This is Lady Justice. She has sworn fealty to the Kou Empire and I am bringing her to this as a trial run for being a future General. She is to stay near me, and as the late hour we arrived, that was the best option." Kouen said calmly.

Through this, Justice kept a straight face, but was totally panicking on the inside. 'Bride? General? What the fuck!?' She was internally screaming non-stop.

"Can this Lady Justice not speak? And what possible credentials does she have?" Gyokouen smiled coyly.

"I can speak, my Lady Empress, and I am a dungeon capturer." Justice spoke calmly and with an air of authority around her. This was her default mode when she was in a tense situation.

Before Gyokouen could respond, Judar busted in and tackled Justice into a bone crushing hug. "Justi what are you here for?" He shot her a cheeky grin.

Justice had a blank look on her face until what he said sunk in. "What the hell did you just call me?"

"Justi. That is my new name for you." Judar said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. The occupants in the room watched the scene in amusement, and nearly none of them noticed the Empress' foul look.

"Then your nickname is JuJu." Justice grinned at the aghast look on the black magi's face.

"But that sounds so girly and not cool at all." He whined.

"I'm sorry, but I think you've confused me with someone who cares." She smirked in victory as she heard the muffled laughs of the others in the room.

"Gargh. Fine, but I'm taking you in a dungeon and making you my king candidate." He tried bargaining.

"I'm going to intervene now." Kouen swooped in and had Justice follow him to a cushioned seat to the direct right of him.

The meeting was about what to do in Balbadd and how to conquer it the best way. Justice listened intently to the suggestions of others, and took in parts of their ideas to form hers and perfect it.

"Now Lady Justice will present her plan." Kouen said. They all went in turns of rank, so she was last.

"Kaida Lancaster, taking the floor." She rose and began to present her plan. "Balbadd is a major trading nation, and has been more or less commandeered by us, the Kou Empire. My proposal is to take away their trading rights and draw out King Sinbad. No doubt he will try to reason with King Ahbmad. Have there be a marriage and threaten to turn Balbadd into a slave-state. This will give Sinbad less time to maneuver it in his favor. To avoid any major conflict with Sindria, I also suggest sending an armada a week or two later than the proposed marriage as some extra muscle in case of any surprises. Kaida Lancaster, relinquishing the floor." She ended her plan.

Those in the room deliberated, and overall found her plan to be the best one available. Kouen put it to a vote. "All those in favor, raise your hand." Kouen said and watched as nearly every hand was raised. "All opposed." The hands of a few bitter nobles were seen. "Then it is decided, Lady Justice's plan is put in motion. Depending on its success, she will join the ranks as a General. This meeting is adjourned." Kouen ended it.

Not even one minute after it was completed, Judar appeared in front of Justice to grab her. "I'm kidnapping her to go through a dungeon. Bye!" He sped off, dragging the poor girl behind him.

"Oww! Stop that! Kouen, help!" She tried calling out to him.

"Judar." Kouen glowered. "Have her back in a timely manner." And with that he stalked off, leaving a shell shocked Justice behind.

"TRAITOR!" She yelled out as Judar cheered and dragged her off to the Tenzen Plateau to the dungeon of Allic.

"Well, let's go!" Judar saluted and marched into the familiar, yet different, building. Justice followed gloomily behind, still angry Kouen didn't help.

'Revenge will be mine!' She mentally swore. 'Mystros.' She talked to her first Djinn.

'Yes?' The mischievous Djinn answered.

'You and Corona will help me plan for my revenge. Depending on this Djinn, I may have him help out too.' A scary grin began to form on her face. Luckily, Judar was in from of her.

'Yes ma'am.' They both said in conspiratorial enthusiasm.

A familiar warm glow of power over came Justice, and soon she saw the strange world she has visited three times before.

"Just what is this place?" She whispered quietly to herself.


	8. Chapter 8: Justice and Aria's Past

**Immediately Justice knew something was wrong.**

 **Her and Judar were were standing right next to one another in a room dark as night. "What's going on?" Justice asked the dark magi.**

 **Before he could answer, a huge bold of lightning struck in front of them. This revealed a glowing Djinn. With shortish, spikey white hair, cold eyes, and a weird Arabian vest he looked very intimidating. "I am Allic, Djinn of truth and honor. Only those who wish to be king may go through my trial." He said in a loud, yet emotionless voice.**

 **"What!?" Judar yelled out.**

 **Allic turned his cold gaze on to him. "You cannot be king." And with that, he struck Judar with lightning, banishing him from the dungeon.**

 **"Damn it! I need to get Kouen." Judar screamed in frustration. He immediately sent rukh containing his message to the magicians in the capital and awaiting Kouen to arrive.**

 **When the man did arrive, he also brought his household, Koumei, Kouha, and the injured Hakuei with her household member. "What do you mean 'Justice is in danger and I can't help?'" Kouen growled out, glaring one of his scarier glares at Judar.**

 **Judar gulped in terror. "Well, you see, it appears this Djinn judges a King's Candidate directly, and, um, kinda kicked me out of there so Justice is on her own."He squeaked out the last bit as Kouen's scowl deepened.**

 **"The Magi is correct." The emotionless Djinn said. "You may watch the trial out here on the wall. The girl will not know you are watching." And with that, the voice left, and the image of Justice appeared. Those in attendance were surprised to see the girl lecturing the Djinn.**

 **"How dare you force him to leave." And angry red head glowered.**

 **"It is my dungeon." The Djinn told her simply.**

 **"Big whoop. He came in here as support, and ,from my understanding of Magis from Kouen, it is a Magi's job to LEAD a King's Candidate in a dungeon. This does not look like leading. Why is he not leading!" She started yelling.**

 **"Would you like to continue on or go on with the challenge?" Allic said with no indication that he was annoyed at the girl.**

 **"I'll do both, you insecure jerk. What, you so scared of people that you only allow one at a time? Bring him back this instant!" Her words sparked emotion in the blue giant, but he did not show it.**

 **"It will not be. The first challenge is to relive through your worst memories. Will you accept the challenge, or die now." He said monotonously.**

 **Justice took a deep breath in, Corona and Mystros inwardly cheering her on. "I accept." The moment she said those words, her world went dark.**

 **Kouen was worried at this, to the point that even his siblings saw it.**

 **"Does En like this girl?" Kouha asked Koumei. The older brother shrugged.**

 **"How is she?" Hakuei asked. She had just gotten to the palace, still bandaged up from her visit to the Kouga Clan, when Kouen ordered for all of them to go with him.**

 **"The met in a dungeon, and Lord Kouen took a liking to her. She is a dungeon capturer and has sworn her loyalty to Lord Kouen. He has decided to nominate her as a new general." Seishuu filled her in.**

 **Suddenly the screen lit up. There was a smaller Justice and another little girl. The little girl had big green eyes, and beautiful brown hair. The two were running around the park, laughing and enjoying life. Watching them was a young man. He had the same twinkle in his eye like Aria, but had brown hair and eyes instead. It was all peaceful until a bunch of men in dark clothes and hoodies showed up while they were on the swing set.**

 **"Justice, take Aria and run!" The man yelled out, running to confront the men and buy time for his daughter and daughter's friend.**

 **The two girls were running for there lives, but Justice was faster, even when holding Aria's hand.**

 **Aria screamed out as she was grabbed by one on the strangers. "Keep running!" She ordered her friend. Those in assembly watched as Justice ran home with tears streaming down her face.**

 **Suddenly the screen changed. They watched as Justice refused food and water and slowly began to get sicker and sicker the longer her friend and her friends father was missing. "Kaida, it's not your fault they are missing." A woman with blonde hair and Justice's blue eyes tried to comfort the grief stricken child.**

 **"Yes it is." Was the only words she spoke, and she wouldn't speak until Aria was found.**

 **The picture shifted again and it was two years later. Justice had found some inner strength and began eating again, but insisted on taking every self-defense and fighting class she could. The name Kaida Lancaster was a name to be feared as she was rumored to be a cold hearted and unfeeling mute, even at the tender age of 10. Some said she was a monster.**

 **Unbeknownst to her mother, she already had some not so friendly contacts in the underworld. Though extremely unlikely, fighting helped her in that. One of the kids in one of her fighting classes was the kid of the local crime boss. Justice never spoke, but did write them from time to time. She found out the people who took Aria were in a gang called the Cursed Crusaders. Aria's dad was a big investigator in their town, so that was probably why he was targeted.**

 **Justice convinced the kid to anonymously inform the police about CC's hideout. That was the day Aria was found. She was practically skin and bones and covered in bruises and other injuries. Luckily nothing sexual happened to her, but she was still sent immediately to the hospital. She was found next to the rotting corpse of Jacob Gardner.**

 **Justice broke down when she saw the unconscious friend in the hospital room and refused to leave until Aria was awake. Each time a nurse tried to get her to leave, she gave them her dubbed 'eyes of the beast' and sent them running. Security tried to, but she still had the cute puppy dog eye to break them down.**

 **It was a week until Aria woke up. The first words out of her mouth made Justice cry all the more. "I knew you'd find me. Let's both live life together." She soft tone touched Justice's cold heart and broke it out of the icy shell around it.**

 **"Aria! Aria! I'm so sorry! I'm just so sorry!" Justice would yell over and over again, the only words she spoke in two years. The two both cried while hugging each other.**

 **The pictured changed and now there were two 16 year old girls. The strawberry blonde one had happy blue eyes, while the brunette had lively green eyes. They had just won a gymnastics tournament with Aria in the and Justice in second. A group of girls from anther team came up two them.**

 **"You don't even belong here." One sneered at Justice.**

 **"What the fuck did you say?" Justice's anger growing out of proportions.**

 **"Didn't you hear here, bitch? You Don't Belong Here." Another got in her face.**

 **"Why the hell not? Jealous because you suck." Justice snidely remarked, not noticing that Aria had left to get someone.**

 **Just as Aria got back with a judge, to clarify why Justice got higher scoring, the first one said the words that would haunt Justice forever. "Because you are a monster who let her friend get kidnapped and killed that girl's father." Those words echoed across the who;e room as everyone turned a silent eye to watch.**

 **Before anyone could reprimand the girl, who was now wearing a triumphant smirk, Aria stepped up and straight up knocked the girl on her ass. "Justice didn't abandon me you little tramp, and anyone who says differently will deal with me! So apologize!" Aria ordered. Though she was normally nice and sweet and slow to anger, she still had a few triggers that made her snap and turn vicious.**

 **"But wh-"**

 **"I SAID APOLOGIZE!" Aria screamed out.**

 **"I-I'm sorry!" The girl said as she cried and an away.**

 **Everything went dark again, and those watching didn't know how to react. Not only was the girl raised in some strange and foreign place, but she went through something extremely traumatic.**

 **The screen lit up one more and Justice was seen boldly glaring at the Djinn with fresh tears running down her face. With a determined look, Justice spoke up. "What's next." She said as she wiped away the tears.**

 **"Hn. I suppose this round goes to you. The next challenge will be much more difficult. You must answer each question I ask you truthfully. If you lie even once I will know, and kill you where you stand. Do you accept?" The stoic Djinn asked.**

 **"I accept." Justice nodded solemnly.**

 **"Why are you so faithful to this Aria person?" Allic said in his emotionless tone.**

 **"Because she saved me. When I was little, I started school all alone. None of the other kids really liked me much, and picked on me because i didn't have a dad. That changed when Aria moved to my school. At first, we didn't talk, but that changed during one day during class. We have a holiday in which we celebrate fathers, and for that day our class was making cards for our fathers." Justice had a sad smile on her face. "The teacher was mad that I wasn't making and card and called me out in the middle of class."**

 **The picture changed, and suddenly those watching were able to see the memory play out. "Kaida Lancaster, why aren't you participating in class?" The angry young woman brought the attention to the shy girl.**

 **"I don't have a dad." The little girl with big, sparkling blue eye said quietly.**

 **"Surely you've at least got someone. Even if your parents are divorced you must have a dad." The impatient woman snapped.**

 **"I've never met my dad. Mommy says he left before I was born." The young girl started to tear up.**

 **"Then make one for your grandfather." The teacher tried to calm the girl to calm down.**

 **This just sent Justice over the edge. She started bawling. "I don't have one." She said in-between sobs.**

 **That was when another little girl came up. She had curly brown hair, and friendly green eyes. She hugged the crying girl until she stopped sobbing. :If you want a daddy, then I'll share mine. Let's make a card together."**

 **The screen went back to Justice and the Djinn. "She saved me first." She repeated. "Next question, please."**

 **"Alright. Why do you seek the power of Djinns?" This time, a glimmer of some emotion entered his eyes.**

 **"Because Aria and I made a promise to help rid this world of the darkness. Join me, and help me make the world a better place." Justice smiled kindly, and stuck out her hand.**

 **Allic smiled, but first he had to say something. "Yes, but only if you answer this last question."**

 **Justice shrugged. "Alright, shoot."**

 **"Do you like Kouen's beard?" Allic had a mischievous look on his face. He almost looked like Mystros.**

 **Justice burst out laughing, much to the shock of her unknown spectators. "Oh, you're being serious?" Justice said when she saw Allic's face.**

 **"Yes, I was." Allic told her.**

 **"Oh, well then." She paused and thought for a bit. "Yes, I like it. I think it makes him look more distinguished and gives off a more authoritative air. Plus I like facial hair." Justice winked at the last part.**

 **Now it was Allic's turn to laugh. "Alright, I accept you as my King's Candidate, but first I must tell you something. Kouen and many others are outside the dungeon and have watched this whole thing." Allic told her softly.**

 **Justice stood there quietly for a moment. "Hn, well I guess I will have to make you help me with something for recompense." Justice glared at him.**

 **"Deal." And with that, Allic created a symbol on her hair decoration, and Justice was now outside standing next to Kouen.**

 **She eyed everyone and especially Kouen. "Mention what you saw, EVER, and no one will find your body." Justice told them in a warning tone.**

 **After a long, awkward silence before Kouha spoke up. "So where does all your treasure go?" He tried changing the subject.**

 **"I'm not sure, but I can use Mystros to bring it out." Justice shrugged.**

 **The group was on there way back to the Palace. 'Now that you're here, Allic, we can plan revenge.' Justice inwardly cackled.**


	9. Chapter 9: Aria's Turn

**With a new Djinn, Kouen chose to bring Justice and her new household members to help him in his military campaign in the West. With this change, we now look towards Aria and her adventure with the little Magi, Aladdin.**

 **The Kou Princess, Hakuei, left a while ago. Currently, Aria was saying good bye with Aladdin to the tribe that had become home. Aria bawled her eyes out when Baba died, truly showing to Aladdin her soft heart. Aria accepted the death quickly, but still kept the wonderful woman in her heart.**

 **Aladdin was given Baba's staff, and Aria was given a necklace of the old shawoman that seemed to have some of her magoi. Aria was grateful for the necklace, and hugged Toya tightly when she presented the gift.**

 **Aria was able to regain the last bit of her memory while staying with the clan. Apparently she moved Aladdin out of the way of some falling rubble and that is what knocked her out. Go figure, she gets knocked out.**

 **The two were now traveling across the desert to find Alibaba once more. When they arrived in Qishan, it was discovered Alibaba had already left, and was heading to Balbaad. Aladdin and Aria chose to stay with the caravan to the exporting country. Along the way, Aria got updates from Justice and found out about the new Djinn, Allic.**

 **From Justice's retelling, her revenge on Kouen and Judar was sweet! Justice used her Djinns to help her come up with the plan. What Mystros did, was keep the two asleep, and if they woke up, the two would see whatever they were dreaming. Justice was able to get Judar to sleep walk into Kouen's room. Corona set their clothes on fire, without burning the two while Justice used a blanket to cover them. Then an hour before dawn, Justice used Allic to shock them into the waking world. Having a room next to Kouen's proved to be very advantageous.**

 **Their screams of terror and horror was music to her ears. The best part was, no one really suspected her, and thought it was the dark haired magi! Now there were rampant rumors that he and Kouen were gay lovers. Seishuu's reaction was the funniest. He kept crying out, "How dare you defile my precious Lord Kouen!" Over and over again.**

 **Now, however, Aladdin were being attacked by slave traders and bandits. Aria gave them all a hard, cold glare. "If I get knocked out, some one will suffer." She threatened them.**

 **The group that came to her shivered a bit. "Will you come willingly." They asked.**

 **Aria chose to try and delay them from getting anymore people from the caravan. "Yes, however I wish to keep my walking stick. That little boy is to keep his flute. He is my little brother." She bartered.**

 **The group looked at one another, not knowing the significance of the stick and the flute.**

 **She was led into a giant room with metal bars. Many were chained, however whenever the bandits tried to chain her, Aria promptly introduced her shoe to their face. Needless to say, Aria remained unchained. Throughout her imprisonment, Aria tried to get the hopes of the fellow prisoners (especially the children) up with amazing stories and the tales of her and Aladdin's adventure thus far.**

 **The little ones seemed to love Justice and her sense of humor, wishing to meet Aria's amazing best friend. It took a few days for Aladdin to wake up. He was exhausted from using Ugo to try and defend the caravan.**

 **Around the time everything came together, Morg had found them, Aladdin summoned Ugo, Aria was using magic, and the two caravans teamed up to try and mount a rescue.**

 **After a night of celebration, the three teens chose to travel to Balbaad together. That was when they met the purple beast.**

 **"Morg, Aria, stay behind me!" Aladdin jumped in front of them, attempting to save his two friends.**

 **Morg assumed a battle ready stance. "I've got this." She said as she closed her eyes, relying on her other senses.**

 **"MY EYES! THEY BURN!" Aria screamed in horror. "KILL IT! KILL IT WITH FIRE!" She curled up into a ball on the ground, rocking herself back and forth.**

 **"Hey-y wait! I'm not a monster! Please hear me out." The purple haired thing yelled out.**

 **/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /**

 **"I appreciate you lending me these clothes, Aladdin." The man now known as 'Sin' said as the small group surrounded a fire. Morg and Aria couldn't look at him. The embarrassment was too much for them. Aria, however, wanted to break down into laughter at the same time due to how ridiculous he looked in said clothes.**

 **"I got cleaned out by some bandits on my way to Balbaad." Sin explained.**

 **"I see. We're sorry, mister. We've crossed the desert, and are a little paranoid about danger." Aladdin shyly apologized.**

 **"Ah... so you've crossed the desert." Sin said in happiness, as if he was remembering something from his own past.**

 **"Yep. Aria and I have traveled from the northern Tian Shan Plateau to the Central Desert. We saw so many new plants and animals." Aladdin got really excited telling the purple haired stranger.**

 **"That's great. That sense of euphoria from coming upon unknown lands and knowledge. The confidence that comes from opening up new paths. The experience, the bond between friends you'd risk your life for. Adventures are great. It's truly every man's dream." Sin said in an enlightened monologue.**

 **Aria deadpanned. "That's sexist." She muttered. Morg heard her and nodded in agreement.**

 **"Yeah! I get how you feel, Mister!" Aladdin was very excited and pumped.**

 **Sin nodded. "And not only that, but one of the perks of a journey is meeting sweet young girls like you, Morgiana, Aria." He said the girls.**

 **Suddenly, Morg got up and followed her nose. "The scent of the ocean." The Fanalis woman said.**

 **"You should be able to see it just over that hill." Sin told them.**

 **The three travel companions shared a look, and then raced up the hill to see the ocean. They were amazed at the view of Balbaad.**

 **"So this..." Aladdin started.**

 **"Is Balbaad." Morg and Aria said in unison.**

 **Aria ignored Sin as he explained about Balbaad and all that. Memorizing stuff was Justice's thing anyway, and currently she was fighting alongside Kouen to expand Kou's borders. Boring. Aria wasn't brought back to her surroundings until they were outside a gorgeous hotel that screamed money.**

 **Whistling a bit, Aria couldn't help but admire Sin's taste... but how could he afford a place like this? "Thanks." Aria grinned when he offered for them to stay as long as they'd like, on his tab.**

 **"Thanks, mister! You're really rich, huh!" Aladdin thanked in his cheerful adorableness. Morg bowed multiple times in thanks.**

 **Sin entered the building with a jovial chuckle, however, he was immediately attacked by the guards. Aria couldn't help but giggle when they called him shady. Luckily, his two friends showed up.**

 **'Something big is going to happen soon. I can feel it in my blood.' Aria thought to herself.**


End file.
